Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-07-05
Security Against Fire.

IMPROVEMENTS IN PROGRESS AT THE GOVERNMENT
PRINTING OFFICE.
. By means OF the remainder of a special appro-
priation made by the Forty -ninth Congress- unused
by Mr.. Rounds, and amounting to about q, 600
Public Printer Benedict has been enabled to take
steps toward the placing OF his building on safe
fire basis. An extensive system OF alarms will be
put in, which WILL 1t is claimed instantly indicate
In every room the presence ami location OF fire,
Notifying everybody OF the danger ard the most
available exits In addition, the elevator shafts,
which are now placed inside the building, will be
removed outside OF the walls and built up brick
A new hydraulic elevator win also be erected, to
be used while the engines are not at work. The
contractors are messrs. Forsberg Murray. The
District Inspector OF boilers having recently con-
demned the two 60-horse-p power boilers now In
use, a new one OF 13:3-horse power Will be put in
their place by Sullivan Elders, OF Albany, n. 7.
In order to prevent loanng by the watchmen
who are In charge OF the building nightly, MeSsrS.
Royce & Marean, of this city, have CONTRACTED to
furnish q watchman detectOr, which will give
every morning record OF the whereabouts Of each
watchman at every hour. These gentlemen are
the contractors also for the hre-alarm service.
Everything that is possible will be done to make
this building which is regarded as nre-trap and
has been severely condemned as unsafe by the
grand jury, in every respect secure. The Old hose
has been replaced by new reels, which are close at
hand in every corridor, and the stables, which are
detached from the main building will be furnished
with automatic fire eXtinguiShers.
MT Benedict thinks that these precautions VIII
incident to q fire in the building.
The Box Elders May be Made Useful.
To the Editor of THE EVENING STAR:
1t may be worth while, notwithstanding the
amount OF your space which has been devoted to
web-worm correspondence, to revert once more to
the matter. The box elders are almost universally
referred to as "breeders Of the pest" and judging
from some recent announcements, the authorities
propose to have these trees replaced speedily
possible by other less affected species. Now, unless
there are other reasons for such removal than the
fact that they are greatly damaged by the worms,
consider that a wholesale removal might prove
unw1Se for the following reasons:
The box elder is not "breeder' of the web worm
In the sense that there are any more worms on ac-
count or the presence OF this tree, except where
nothingiS done to check their increase. The fact is
simply that the moths are more attracted to this
tree than to other Species and lay their eggs upon
In much greater abundance titan upon our other
shade trees With the box elders removed, the
eggs would be scattered more widely upon other
trees and the labor Of destroying the worms would
be considerably increased. My point then is this:
A certain proportion, If not ALL OF the box elders
should be saved as lures. They should be sprayed,
as have recommended, the last week in May and
the great bulk OF the worms will be easily and effect
ually destroyed with greater and economy than
without such lures. BY Systematically spraying
the box elders, suggested, they will lessen the
labor OF protecting our trees; whereas by neglect
ing them they increase that labor, and from this
last point Of view had bettertbe replaced.
C.. " RILEY.